Marc Marquez once again rules at the ’Ring

Marc Marquez perfectly mastered a tactical race to take a stellar ninth straight win at the Sachsenring, after starting from pole position.

The reigning World Champion saved his tyres while following Danilo Petrucci and Jorge Lorenzo in the early phases, took the lead on lap 13 when he decided it was time to try and pull a gap and—in the latter stages of the race, when tyre consumption increased—managed his advantage.

Looking strictly at the numbers, today Marc took a second consecutive win from pole, his fifth victory this season, his 40th MotoGP success, and his 66th across three classes, extending his Championship lead over Valentino Rossi to 46 points with 10 races remaining. In addition, his ninth win at Sachsenring came after nine consecutive poles here, and in his 99th MotoGP race, at the season’s ninth round.

Never really comfortable with his bike’s setup during the weekend, Dani Pedrosa could only improve upon his starting-grid spot by two positions, ending the race in eighth place.

Now the Repsol Honda Team will enjoy a two-week break before heading to Brno for the Czech GP on 5 August.

Marc Marquez

Winner

“Of course I’m very happy, as nine wins in a row here is incredible! But every year the pressure increases, because beginning on Thursday, everyone starts asking about winning on Sunday! Anyway, we have the experience to handle that as well. Today I expected the race to have different phases, with the first tyre drop happening after around nine laps and a final one seven to five laps from the end. I was prepared to manage the different situations, but in the beginning it wasn’t easy because my start wasn’t perfect. I expected that Lorenzo might pass me but not Petrucci. I lost two positions and then overtaking them wasn’t easy. When I did it, I started to push in order to pull a gap but without being ‘crazy’ so that I could manage the tyre consumption until the end of the race. But then they signalled me that Valentino was closing in very fast, and when I saw 0.6 in the board I understood that I had to push again and completely use my tyres for two or three laps, so I did my fastest lap of the race. I was able to open a gap again and then manage it. Then, when I was celebrating I saw a marshal with a No. 26 cap, so I took it and went to celebrate in front of the fans because I think this weekend Dani was the protagonist, and we’ll miss him. We and Honda are working very well and we need to continue like this in the second part of the Championship with the same feeling we’ve had so far.”

Dani Pedrosa

8th

“It was a disappointing race because this is a track where I’ve always been faster, but we’ve been struggling all weekend with the bike setup. We managed to improve here and there a little bit but I never felt really comfortable. I did more or less the same lap times for the entire race, but not fast enough. We can’t do anything else but continue working to try to improve the setting and feeling on the bike.”

MotoGP 2018Sunday, July 15th 2018

Race
Round 9
Motorrad Grand Prix DeutschlandGermany

Race Classification

Sunny

Humidity

48%

Track Temp

48°C

Air Temp

27°C

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Points

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

25

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

41'05.019

2

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

20

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

2.196

3

Vinales Maverick

25

SPA

16

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

2.776

4

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

13

Pramac Racing

Ducati

3.376

5

Bautista Alvaro

19

SPA

11

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

5.183

6

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

10

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

5.780

7

Dovizioso Andrea

4

ITA

9

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

7.941

8

Pedrosa Dani

26

SPA

8

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

12.711

9

Zarco Johann

5

FRA

7

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

14.428

10

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

6

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

21.474

11

Syahrin Hafizh

55

MAL

5

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

25.809

12

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

4

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

25.963

13

Rabat Tito

53

SPA

3

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

29.040

14

Miller Jack

43

AUS

2

Pramac Racing

Ducati

29.325

15

Redding Scott

45

GBR

1

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

34.123

16

Bradl Stefan

6

GER

0

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

38.207

17

Luthi Tom

12

SWI

0

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

49.369

18

Abraham Karel

17

CZE

0

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

1'01.022

19

Simeon Xavier

10

BEL

0

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

1'16.692

20

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

0

LCR Honda

Honda

21 laps

21

Nakagami Takaaki

30

JPN

0

LCR Honda

Honda

26 laps

22

Rins Alex

42

SPA

0

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

-

23

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

0

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

-

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Gallery

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Location Information

Car and bike races have been held on closed public roads in the area around the town of Chemnitz, Germany since the 1920s and were still taking place until as recently as 1990. It was decided, however, that the five mile course through such a densely populated area was no… read more.

Location Information

Car and bike races have been held on closed public roads in the area around the town of Chemnitz, Germany since the 1920s and were still taking place until as recently as 1990. It was decided, however, that the five mile course through such a densely populated area was no… read more.